


Tower

by GingerEnvy



Series: Snowpiercer AU [2]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Snowpiercer (2013), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Child Abuse, Deaf Clint Barton, Snowpiercer AU - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-13
Updated: 2014-12-13
Packaged: 2018-02-26 08:54:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,558
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2645825
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GingerEnvy/pseuds/GingerEnvy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clint and Bucky take to living in the Tower, it's more than they could have ever dreamed of, things aren't perfect and there are messes to clean, but it is better than the train.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tower

Eyelashes the color of spun gold fluttered against a smooth and unmarred cheek, breath fanned out, making dark blond hair flutter across a pillow.

A real pillow, with a pillow case and everything. On a bed, in a room separate from all the others, one attached to a bathroom with a shower (god the first time Bucky had used it, the water was actually warm and clean, a real shower), a kitchenette, and a small living room. It was an apartment, a small one, sure, but it was a real home, not the back of a train crowded with people and memories and anger and pain.

It was clean and new with a working toilet with real plumbing, with a couch and a window that showed the white blanket over what had once been the city of New York.There was also an oven and a refrigerator that had little food now but he could get some more later. 

It was hard to comprehend, a home, a real tangible home. It had been more than 18 years since Bucky had lived in one.

He had never shared one with a bed hoggy four year old before though, so that was new too.

He looked down at Clint again, sleeping snuggled up in the bed they shared, he couldn’t believe a kid so tiny could shove him nearly off the bed and steal all of the covers over the course of the night, but this one sure could.

He let out a soft sigh and let the kid sleep a little longer, he needed it, the past few days had been rough, past week actually. He’d been unconscious for the first three days.

He closed his eyes and took a deeper breath, the past week has been utterly surreal, he isn’t sure if he should believe it yet, he woke up after the explosion, he remembered blue sky and Clint and thoughts of Steve and that was it, and then he was in a pristine white room with beeping machinery and clean sheets and painkillers. He had thought he was dead.

But slowly he had come more to himself and there had been people talking to him and he just didn’t know what to make of the situation, it hadn’t been until they’d brought in Clint who was sobbing and scared and crying for his brother that he actually made a move, sitting up, as that was all he could manage, not for long though. But he’d taken Clint, intending to hold him with both arms, forgetting one was just a stump now, but he got over it in favor of the sobbing child who’d started babbling at him and trying to sign the moment he’d seen a familiar face, but unable due to being too tired and stressed.

Bucky had held him until he’d fallen asleep, curled up into his side, and then he’d let himself recognize the fact that he wasn’t dead and that the train had exploded.

He’d asked the doctor if there had been any survivors, and he was surprised to discover that there had been. He didn’t ask who, he didn’t want to know. He figured they were all from the front of the train, no one he would know.

He shook his head and sighed, those thoughts were no good, they led to nothing, so he scrapped them. He looked back at Clint, and hated to wake him, but they had appointments with some doctors, Bucky for his arm, and Clint for his ears to see if anything could be done. It was even more surreal for there to be real doctors here.

Just another thing to get used to again.

He sat up and gently put his hand on Clint’s back, rubbing it to wake him, Clint mumbled nonsense, Bucky cracked a smile, “Come on, squirt,” he said even though he couldn’t hear him, he ran his fingers down his sides and Clint squirmed from the tickling but he woke up.

"…abaaa…" he asked rubbing at his eyes, blinking cutely up at him, though Bucky had no idea what he was saying, but then he made the sign Bucky knew for food.

Bucky nodded, they would get food, and then go to the doctors, he didn’t know if Clint had a sign for doctors, probably not. This was going to be fun and new. Maybe mildly terrifying, but hey that was the fun part.

They quickly got ready for the day, getting dressed (having more than one set of clothes was something Clint had never experienced, and Bucky had almost forgotten) and headed out to the cafetorium, it was set up like a food court at a mall, something he hadn’t seen in over a decade, almost two. There were different foods from different parts of the world too, it was real though, made by people really from that country. Chinese, Japanese, Mexican, Indian, English, Italian. Having pizza again after so long almost made him cry.

That was the place they went, holding the food tokens they’d been given until Bucky found somewhere to help with keeping everyone alive. Clint would go to school. A real school, with math and science and reading and writing.

Surreal. That’s all Bucky thought this was. He was waiting to wake up.

So far he was still in the dream. He walked down the hall, Clint holding onto his fingers tightly with one hand while the other fingers were shoved in his mouth, Bucky figured it was a coping gesture or for comfort or something, as he’d never seen him do that before.

Bucky picked up two plates of Pizza, only having to use one token, since kids under ten ate free, they started doing odd jobs at eleven to earn tokens and a little extra to get things of their own. Everyone earned their place here. It was a pretty good system. The adults had little bracelets that basically had the hours they worked and what they'd get for it, food was somewhat of a given, it was just extra food that costed more, and then anything else they wanted also cost them extra. Children got the tokens as their pay and they could get whatever they wanted with them.

But today, they were having pizza. 

He handed one plate to Clint gently. Clint stared at the foreign substance on the plate and then blinked up at Bucky, confused. Bucky gestured for him to wait and then grabbed his own and led them over to a table. He sat down, Clint did the same, setting the plate down, looking at Bucky and signing food again, which was his hands formed around what would have been a protein bar and bringing it to his mouth. Bucky nodded again and took a slice of pizza and ate it to show him, nearly moaning with how good it was, Clint watched him then mimicked him, unsure at first, as he’d only ever had protein bars and in the hospital with Bucky they'd attacked him to an IV as he'd come back too small for his age and malnourished.

Pizza seemed like an appropriate first meal. Bucky watched his eyes light up as he took his first bite. Not a second later he was stuffing his face.

Bucky snorted in laughter, smiling a bit before he started on his own food in earnest. Not even a moment later someone sat down next to him, a pretty blond woman, she looked vaguely familiar, she was grinning at Clint in amusement.

"Wow, it’s like he’s never seen pizza before," she said Bucky finished his slice before answering.

"He hasn't, he’s never seen real food before, let alone eaten it," he said.

"You’re joking," the woman said sounding incredulous, Bucky shook his head, "Then what did you eat on that train of yours?"

"You really don’t want to know, and it wasn’t my train," he replied, watching Clint who had finished quickly and was licking his fingers even though there wasn’t much to lick.

"Gah!" he told Bucky holding his hands up for inspection, Bucky nodded, not sure what he meant, but the nod pleased him and he started looking around instead. Well fed and curious, at least he was happy again, he'd been fairly depressed the last several days, for good reason.

"He’s a cutie," the woman said, obviously taken with him, "By the way, I’m Carol," she said holding her hand out, then realizing at the last second it was the wrong hand and switched quickly.

Bucky pretended not to notice and shook her hand, “Hi, you…”

"I was the one who got you out of that mess, yeah, it’s thanks to you we actually know the kiddo over here was deaf, we have some people who know sign language, but-"

"He doesn't know real sign language, what he knows is something his brother came up with," he said, "And…I think he can make noise because of his brother too," he suddenly recalled a memory of Barney holding his brother’s hand to his throat so he could feel the vibrations, making sure he watched his mouth move, then putting his own fingers on his brother’s throat to encourage sound. It had worked for the most part, he couldn't enunciate though and that wasn't something you could get without hearing it. 

"I see," she said, "So…Bucky Barnes, the hero of the train is what they’re calling you, you know."

"I’m not a hero," he said, feeling a bit sick now.

"That’s what heroes say," she said amused and he shot her a look.

"I’m not, and excuse me, we have to get to some doctor’s appointments," he snapped, taking his and Clint’s plates and putting them in the nearby buss bins before coming back and taking Clint’s hand who waved at the blond lady because she'd smiled at him so much, before going with Bucky wherever he was taking him.

Carol hummed and watched them go, thinking.

~

Bucky had to let that encounter go, or he’d dwell and that was something he didn't want to spend time doing, so he went to the floor that was supposedly the ‘medical wing’, and headed to the room that he’d been told to go to, somewhat unsure, it was a little daunting, going to a doctor after all this time.

It was an elderly gentleman, and he seemed nice enough, he let Clint help him since the kid wouldn't leave Bucky’s side. It was just basic things so nothing too gruesome. Like a physical, they weren't going to take the wrappings off on his arm with Clint so close, though Bucky knew he’d seen worse.

They did need to look at his arm however, so they got one of the nurses to distract Clint while they inspected it carefully as it was still very sensitive, the doctor made a lot of humming noises and a lot of notes on his clipboard, he smiled at Bucky when he was finished, new bandages wrapped firmly and said, “We’ll see what we can do, it's pretty clean, so it's fairly encouraging.”

Bucky didn't get a chance to ask what he meant because Clint was back over to him, excited to show him a picture he’d drawn with the nurse, something he’d never done with so many colors before. Bucky smiled at him, not too sure what it was he drew, though from the red top on one blob and a blond top on another he got a good idea.

Next stop was the doctor for Clint, it was pretty obvious once Bucky set him on the bench, Clint got scared and nervous, Bucky wasn't going to leave him, and made sure Clint knew it by sticking close; if they could help with his hearing they would stick through it. He sat there with Clint holding his hands in his single one, smiling at him and talking, though he knew Clint couldn't understand, to distract him from what the doctor was doing with his ears. It took a little longer because they also did a physical with Clint and he just didn't like all of the fuss, but they got it all worked out and he got a treat for doing so well. Bucky looked at it first before taking off the wrapper, it looked like a home made lollipop, and it probably was, how crazy. He crouched down to look at Clint and handed it over, showing him that he needed to lick it, Clint frowned but followed his lead, his eyes lighting up again at the wonderful taste. Bucky was pretty sure the kid would have eaten the stick too if Bucky hadn't been watching him just for that reason

They were on their way back to their quarters when someone spoke.

"Mr. Barnes?"

Bucky turned, arching a brow at the beautiful redheaded woman who was standing down the hall behind him, “Yeah?”

"If you could follow me, please," She said it like she expected him to follow her no questions asked and he frowned.

"Why?" 

She turned to look at him, already ready to go, “Because Mr. Stark would like to speak to you.”

"What? Why?" Why would the man who made the tower want to talk to  _him_?

"I’m sure I don’t know, Mr. Stark is always very spontaneous and eccentric, he said he wished to speak with you, that is all," a hint of an accent came out as she spoke, maybe a little irritated. He thought it might be Russian.

Bucky sighed but took Clint’s hand and headed after the woman. Getting to the top of the tower, where Tony was located took a little while longer than he expected, though Bucky got the feeling the woman was going around the Tower in a subtle tour, Bucky hadn't seen much so far except the hospital wing and the cafetorium, Clint had probably seen more, assuming he hadn't been crying at the time. But seeing it now, he was pretty blown away. It was like an entirely different world. A finely tuned machine where everything was working with each other in small pieces to keep the whole thing working. But more well maintenance and cared for, 'made with love', in a way the train never was.

According to the information he’d been provided, the population count was close to twenty-three thousand people lived in the tower and in the buildings around it. That was a lot, when Bucky was only used to the several hundred on the train, having so many was somewhat mind blowing. 

There was everything that they needed, several greenhouses, some indoor farms, with pigs and chickens and cows, they were all maintained strictly so they didn’t die out. Many also made things you didn’t really think about, like sugar and bread and jelly. Everyone had a job, some more than one, but with so many people working to keep that part of humanity alive, it was a little uplifting. Really everything they saw was.

There was a library, an entire floor of the Tower dedicated to books, they’d gone all over the world to find all the books they could, there was a section for nearly every language. 

There was a gym and track, with a field for sports, there was even a swimming pool, it was amazing to consider.

There was a daycare for young children and then a school for each grade for older kids, though at the age of 11, kids helped with some smaller jobs in the morning, like running errands or helping with food preparations, making small deliveries, easy jobs that most of the adults were too busy to do, this also earned them a little bit of spending money, so they could buy sweets or small hand made toys.

There was also art and music, bands and choirs, galleries with some really famous pieces in them and Bucky had to wonder if Stark had had them previous to this whole mess or if they were more recently acquired. Either way, it brightened the place right up.

There were craftsman as well, people who made things people never really gave thought to before all this, baskets and shelves, the toy makers with their dolls and cars and teddy bears, artisans with jewelry and clothes, which Bucky thought was a bit superficial, but there was a man selling engagement rings so he supposed there was some kind of practical use for it? Sort of.

But over all, it was incredible, he’d seen it all, but as they walked he had been more eager to look at Clint’s face, he’d never seen so much stuff before. Not like this. He was so full of wonder and excitement, Bucky couldn’t help but smile at him, he occasionally stopped to show Clint how something worked, just to see the amazement on his face, the woman leading them always stopped a little ways away, waiting for them patiently to continue. Bucky thought he’d caught a smile on her own face a few times but he could never be sure, she was always stoic when he looked at her again.

What was most surprising was probably the movie theater, he found out that Stark had every single movie that had ever been digitized on file, and the same held true for iTunes, he’d basically downloaded all of iTunes and then some before the snow fell. It was a good idea, people would be more comforted by familiarity especially after something so life changing.

Finally after the rather long tour, the redhead led them to an elevator that went straight up, he had to comfort Clint who had never been in an elevator like this and was scared until Bucky reassured him.

The doors opened to reveal a large room with a lot of windows, and it may have been a penthouse at one time, but now it was like a workshop, there were pieces of machinery everywhere, like half finished projects put on pause because another idea had taken forefront, the place was a mess, there was a kitchen and what looked like a bar, however, there didn't seem to be any alcohol in it. 

There was a desk and a man with some goggles and hair that looked like it hadn't been washed in a little too long, he was deep in thought and fiddling with something until the redhead spoke up.

"Mr. Stark," she said, like she knew he wasn't going to hear the first time, "Mr. Stark, I've brought you Mr. Barnes."

"Mmm?" the man hummed poking around some more, Bucky could almost hear the woman’s eye roll.

"Mr. Stark!"

"What, hmm? Yes- Oh! Yes!" he hopped too, finally spotting them, he dropped the pieces he had in his hands and grabbed a cloth to wipe his hands on.

"Mr. Stark, Bucky Barnes and Clint," the woman introduced.

"Oh yeah! Thanks Nat," the man beamed behind his goatee, and held his hand out for Bucky to shake, Bucky was able to return the gesture as it seemed the man was right handed.

"So!" he said cheerfully, "I wanted to talk to you right away, but I was persuaded out of it, you did have a pretty traumatic experience, " he said and then coughed when the woman cleared her throat, "And um…well anyway you were found at the front of the train, at the engine, near the explosion, so I figured you knew what happened, no one else knew from the front of the train, not that I got much from them to begin with…mostly because they were asking for something…aaah…kone-oh?"

"Kronole," Bucky said flatly, of course it was all of the first class passengers who survived, "It’s a hallucinogen, and addictive."

"A drug?" Stark asked eyebrows rising, "Why would they want that?" He was more asking where it came from.

"You really don’t want to know," Bucky grunted and sighed, "It’s basically waste from the engine, the first class passengers found out it was good to get high…and that’s that," he said, "They won’t be much good to you."

Stark took a deep breath and then set down the rag and leaned against his desk, “I get the feeling there’s a lot we don’t know about the train, we’re still checking out the sight, but…”

Bucky sighed, “Everyone was separated from the start, first class ticket holders to free, front to back, Pierce lived in the engine, I lived in the tail.”

"Then what were you doing in the engine at the time of the explosion?"

"Carrying out a rebellion," he said flatly, no point in delaying it. There was a moment of silence only broken because Clint accidentally knocked something over, creating a ruckus, he froze and looked at Bucky with wide eyes.

 Bucky went over to him and set the thing, he had no idea what it was, back on the table and crouched down, signing ‘no’ and ‘not yours’, he didn't know no touching or if Clint knew it, but he hoped he got the point across. He stood again, Clint sticking close to his legs this time.

"Sorry," he said, "And we had to. Living like that…it wasn't really living, we were in constant fear, they killed us when there were too many…they were taking kids, they took Clint-" he sighed and ran his hand down his face, feeling Clint’s fingers clutching onto his pant leg, "I don’t want to have this conversation with him nearby, I know he can’t hear it, but…" 

"No, it’s fine, I get the feeling there was a lot more than I thought was going on, you can tell me later, I also wanted to ask you-" he started but the elevator doors opened and another woman came in, she had strawberry blond hair.

"Tony, Rhodey has a few more reports of theft on the marketplace floor, apparently they were recent he wanted to know if you wanted to do something about them."

"Oh, um…yeah, we might as well, I mean we can’t let them keep doing it, it’s not fair to anyone else..." he said but stopped when he saw Bucky's frown and then looked down at Clint who looked back up at him not sure as to what was going on.

"Ah…yeah…that might be…one second," he muttered crouching down and then started patting down Clint, he found several things on him he wasn't supposed to have, a small little bird pin, a little hammer made of wood, some crayons, a few sweets and a small toy car that looked like an old hot wheels toy.

The other three looked positively shocked he had so much and they hadn't been able to tell, Bucky handed it over to the woman, “Ah…sorry about that, he…used to do it on the train and well…he was never told it was bad.”

"People didn't care he was stealing from them?" the woman asked, incredulous.

"It was really different on the train, Pepper," Tony shrugged, "And so sorry, introductions how stupid of me, I’m Tony Stark, but you knew that, and this is Pepper Potts, she’s my right hand woman, and this is Natasha Romanov, she’s my left hand woman she's also the interpreter for my rescue squad, she speaks pretty much every language ever, I also have a pair of eyes on the back of my head, and that’s Maria Hill, you two, this is Bucky Barnes and Clint-"

"Barton, Clint Barton," Bucky provided.

"Right, our little sticky fingers is Clint Barton, and apparently that was okay?" Tony asked.

"Well…no, but he was good at it, and if someone left something out, it was fair to think they didn’t need it, so…he took it, he’s sneaky, and…most people don’t really want to scold a four year old deaf kid who smiles all the time no matter what, not that anyone really knew how to scold him. Someone made him cry once...the aftermath wasn't so pretty."

"Riiight," Tony nodded, "Fair enough, well, keep an eye on him, he’s excused since he doesn't know any better now, but don’t let it become a habit."

"Yeah," Bucky agreed, "I’ll try to get him to understand…"

"Mmmm, Miss Potts! Once you’re done returning the stolen items, with my personal apologies, say it was a drill or something for the response time of our people, can you find me a 'someone who speaks sign language and is willing to teach it to a sticky fingered four year old'?"

"Of course, Mr. Stark," she nodded and turned, the items in hand, she headed back down the elevator.

"Miss Romanov, do you think you could take our little sneaky friend here somewhere nice and distract him for a little while?" Tony asked gesturing at Clint who looked a little worried, scared.

"I will do my best," she said coming over to Clint and coaxing him to come with her, it took her awhile and some encouragement from Bucky but he went with her to who knew where and left Bucky with Tony. Tony gestured him over to a couch and plopped down waiting for Bucky to do the same.

"Alright, let’s hear it."

Bucky saw no reason not to tell him, so he told him everything. From start to finish, he figured it might give everyone who had died a place in history, he was sure to mention everyone he knew by name, they were worthy of respect and recognition. And of course, there was really nothing stopping him from letting him know how bad it really had been.

~

Several hours later Bucky was emotionally exhausted and had a sore throat and was responsible for Tony Stark looking sick to his stomach, Clint and Natasha returned, Clint was clutching a teddy bear looking positively thrilled and Natasha was looking fond, more emotion than Bucky had ever really seen on her face. But the little boy running over to him babbling nonsense at him and showing him the bear looking positively thrilled distracted him, that was really all he needed to remember that all that had been done on the train at the end had been necessary. It couldn't be let to continue on.

He smiled at the little boy and nodded at Romanov in thanks, then took Clint’s hand and headed back down to their quarters, the bear firmly in Clint’s grasp.

"I’ll be in touch, Barnes, so don’t get complacent!" Tony called as the doors closed.

Bucky had no idea what that meant, but he couldn't help but keep on his toes, waiting for the other shoe to drop. But as life carried on, nothing nefarious happened. 

He and Clint lived in their little apartment, thoroughly enjoying the regular mundane day to day that was taken for granted before the snow. Clint was being gradually introduced into school, pre-school really, with a few other kids with disabilities, a teacher that was teaching him real sign language, but since Clint was learning it, that meant Bucky had to as well, which was hard with only one hand, but he was learning, slowly but surely, and he found after they could communicate decently well that Clint was a sassy little shit, it was kind of hilarious. He couldn't help but get more and more attached to the little squirt as time went on. He understood why Barney had wanted to keep him happy. It was contagious.

While Clint was getting help, so was he, every day he was going to the doctor for him to check his arm, doing exercises where he had to pretend like his other hand was still there to keep up his nerves and muscle or something, sign language was a way for him to do that as well so it was encouraged.

It wasn't until the doctors asked him if he was ready for surgery that he figured there was something more to this than just getting better, when he asked what for, the doctor looked very confused.

"Mr. Stark spoke to you didn't he?"

"...well...yeah, but not about my arm," Bucky replied, now pretty confused himself as he watched the nurse and doctors talk, asking him several more times if he'd been told about this at all. 

The doctor then looked to another nurse who left, not even ten minutes later Stark was there, "Totally my fault!" He said without preamble while coming in, "We got to talking and I didn't get to ask him."

"Ask me what?"

"Well if you wanted a new arm or not," Tony shrugged and Bucky blinked.

"What?"

"What, what? I'm an engineer, I build things I built the suits, so you know, building functioning mechanical limbs wasn't too hard, got several people with them if you wanted to talk to them?"

Bucky only blinked, confused beyond his mental capacity. 

"What do you want me to do?" he asked, because he couldn't really figure out what it was.

"What do you mean?" Tony blinked and then caught up, "Oh god, no, come on Barnes, it's not like that here, you don't even have to pay for it, okay? This is what we do here, I made this whole tower to help people, if you don't want it, that's okay, but always know it's an option."

Bucky stared at him. This man, this crazy eccentric man who built a tower to try and save as many people as possible was offering to give him an arm to be as close to normal again as he could ever be, he didn't want anything in return? Bucky wasn't so sure about that, but then nodded, there really was nothing to lose, "Do it."

Tony smiled, "I know you won't regret it, I won't lie, my prosthetics are amazing," he said with a wink, "And don't worry about the kiddo, Natasha has got him for however long you need, she's grown fond of him. She even lets him sit on her lap, totally unfair, she tried to stab me with a pen when I tried..."

Bucky nodded, pretty much ignoring the man's words, he was too focused on trying to think what he'd do after this and then turned himself over to the doctors to be sent off to an anesthesia induced slumber.

 ~

When Bucky woke again, he had an arm, though it was metal and pretty intimidating, it worked, he could move the fingers and joints, the metal went up to his shoulder and it looked like a robot, straight out of a scifi movie, but hey, he had an arm, he wasn't going to complain. 

Clint seemed to be very fascinated by his arm as all he ever did was pet it. He supposed that was better than him being scared of it.

Bucky had to get used to having two arms again, especially since the other one was a little heavier than a normal one, but Stark never did things in halves, it was streamlined and incredibly high end, but also fully functional, he could feel with it, the nerve endings in his stump were connected to wire nerves in the arm, he could feel pressure, and even differentiate extreme hot and cold, Bucky actually thought it was in better shape than his real arm.

But that also meant after he was fully healed he was expected to find a job, which made sense, he needed to help keep the place running. Clint was in school, and he was positively thriving, he was being taught how to read and write on top of the sign language, as well as basic math. He had a little trouble with the reading and writing, the teachers figured he was a little dyslexic, but he was very good at math and he seemed to really enjoy it. When he came home his hands were a whirl wind as he signed so fast, most of the time Bucky couldn't follow, but all he had to do was smile at how happy it made the kiddo, Clint didn't even seem to mind.

Bucky was proud despite himself, he really didn't have a right, but he had grown very fond of Clint, and now seeing him come into his own, it just made him like him more. It was hard not to like someone who smiled so brightly at you.

The only problem was that Bucky was having trouble finding somewhere to work, his skills weren't exactly needed, before the snow he'd worked at a fast food restaurant like any normal teenager looking for extra cash while in school. Shit, he didn't even have a High School diploma. And no one was in the market for a rebellion leader.

That was until Stark came to find him again, this time with a job proposition. He wanted Bucky to be one of his 'scroungers' he called them, one of the people who went out and got materials they couldn't make in the Tower and who went to look for possible survivors, which was becoming a rarer occurrence as the years went on. The Train had been the biggest rescue to date.

Bucky was surprised, but he agreed, he would do what he could to help.

~

Bucky was fitted with one of the suits, silver and black opposed to several of the other colors that the others in the team had. Natasha's was black and red, the woman who had rescued him, Carol, hers was red, blue and yellow, there was another red and white one that belonged to a man named Sam Wilson, a silver one that belonged to a man named Rhodey, and several more that belonged to people he hadn't met yet.

He had to train how to use it and it was hard, the thought of flying was a little bit terrifying but after lots of practice he'd mastered that. And then he had to practice moving very fast over long distances for any length of time, also practice carrying people without hurting them. And working with the others and learning how they worked, they were a good team, if a bit sloppy when it came to delegating jobs.

Bucky knew how to fix it, he could see where they were strong and weak and could balance it all out, and that was why Tony made him the leader of the group, which was totally not what he'd expected, but the others could see his leadership and tactical skills so they didn't complain.

However they didn't need to go out all that often, about once every couple of weeks, and it wasn't enough pay to live on, so Bucky needed a secondary job, this time he found one in the lower levels, doing heavy lifting and manual labor, it was hard work, but it was good pay for him and Clint, who absolutely adored the Teddy Natasha had gotten him, and seeing how happy it made him, Bucky kind of wanted to spoil him a little bit. He figured if anyone in this world deserved it, it was Clint.

 ~

Bucky was used to his routine by now, they had been at the Tower for about five months, Bucky woke up Clint in the morning, which was always a challenge, the kid liked to sleep, and kick. They had breakfast and then Bucky joined him for a 'review' of what signs they were learning that day, though Clint usually learned more than just the review and Bucky had to learn a lot on his own, it was still helpful. Then Bucky headed down to the lower levels to do his day job, it was pretty simple, there was a lot of storage and many of the things made on the top floors were used later, so they were stored and the ones needed then taken out of storage, it was a lot of work on his body. But Bucky got through it just fine, the metal arm helped a lot.

There were a few other men and women with metal limbs down there too, they were fast and efficient with their fake limbs, which made them just as valuable as anyone else and not the least bit disabled or deformed, Bucky thought that was pretty freaking awesome.

While the over all feel of the Tower was peaceful and content, not everyone was happy with their lot.

He discovered this one day when he overheard a conversation between a few men on their breaks, they were complaining about not being able to drink alcohol, or even make it. 

Bucky knew the feeling of not having any, but he had seen all of the information that each floor provided about what was being made there and what it would be used for and how many people were needed to make it, etc, it was all very precise and exact, Stark and the other engineers and scientist and analysts had made sure they could get the most for the equal amount of work and not lose too much in the process.

But that meant that if they started making alcohol they would have to take away the barley and hops and grapes away from the other farmers which decreased the amount of bread and jelly, and other products needing them, or they would have to increase production which would create more work for everyone in those fields of work.

On top of that, alcohol was a very prominent crutch in the past and a depressant, it seemed like a good idea not to have it in 'paradise'. It made sense to him not to bring back things that had hurt people in the past, no alcohol, no smoking, no drugs. The people on Kronole had either detoxed and had to help in the new society or they went crazy and many of them died.

But these men didn't seem to care about that, they just wanted something they couldn't have and were angry they couldn't have it, and blamed Tony for it. 

Naturally Bucky told him about it, he wasn't sure what to do in that situation, he understood their anger and their way of thinking, as once upon a time on a train, he had been the leader of a train car full of people who had felt similar. But to him, they sounded like whining children who weren't getting their candy for being good. Bucky thought it was pretty fucking idiotic compared to what he and the others on the train had been through, so he treated the idiots like children and basically tattled on them.

Tony had sighed, he knew there were people who weren't happy, it wasn't something that surprised him, people had made complaints over things like that before, and Tony had depleted the alcohol he'd had in the Tower during the whole mess several years into it, not on himself no, he'd actually set up a small bar in the penthouse and served it there, talked to the people, that sort of thing he still talked to people, he just didn't have alcohol to do it anymore. 

From what Bucky could tell, pretty much everyone liked him, and why wouldn't they? He was working hard to keep them safe, and he was doing it for everyone. Which made the biggest difference between him and Pierce. Tony had allowed anyone who had come into the Tower at the beginning to stay, and it seemed that not many people had put up a fuss when he explained what it meant for everyone to live comfortably, of course there were a few that thought it was pointless and didn't want to, but in the end everyone understood how it worked and most were more than happy to do their part, humans were not meant to be idle. Most especially not in a time of crisis.

The Tower wasn't perfect, there was still theft, cheating, drama, human issues, that's how they were as a species. They'd had one case of murder, and the murderer had a choice between being imprisoned or being sent back into the storm. They chose the storm.

Bucky knew no where was going to be perfect, but the Tower was pretty close.

That's why Bucky didn't want anything else happening to it, which was why he was willing to help out when it looked like the men were going to make a move on Stark, he'd heard them pumping themselves up and each other into hating him more and more. They were edging to take him out of the top seat, to not have so much control.

But from what Bucky could tell of the system, that was stupid. Tony had designed it to be pretty much self sufficient, if everyone did their job, then everyone gained. He just got them going and then let it run. He only ever intervened when it was necessary. Making adjustments as time went on. It also seemed that the population was controlled here too, but not in such a gruesome fashion as Bucky knew.

People who wanted kids would have to be put on a waiting list, usually they didn't have to wait too long only a year or so for there to be a spot opened up when kids graduated and joined the adults, people still died, mostly from old age, as Tony's medical facility was top of the line, even before the snow. He'd also recruited every doctor for every field of medicine he could. 

There was a wall commemorating the deaths of pretty much anyone who had died in the Tower or out of, any name someone knew of that was gone was added, it was the least they could do. Bucky knew they had found a roster of names for the train in the wreck, but he also knew that no one in the tail had been on it. He'd given every name he had known throughout his time to be added.

Including Barney Barton.

Including Steve Rogers.

Tony had thought of everything to make people comfortable he'd built the whole damn Tower to do that, he was trying to preserve life, he was trying to actually make a humanitarian effort. That was all anyone could ask of him.

Bucky wasn't going to let some stuck up entitled assholes try to ruin it for everyone else just because they wanted some fucking beer.

So he kept his eye on them, he knew when they met up and would notice a change in the pattern, it didn't happen until about a year and a half after Bucky had come to the Tower, they met up with another worker, a man named Ivan Vanko, the others, a Justin Hammer, and an Aldrich Killian with some other men who followed them around like lackeys, they were all feeling scorned by their positions and wanted more. 

Ivan spoke in Russian for a lot of it, but unfortunately for them, Bucky had taken Russian in high school and gone there for six weeks on a program, he was a little rusty however, so he would remember the words he didn't know and then take them to Natasha who helped him translate the words he'd remember to ask her about, it became a little thing, but he really enjoyed spending time with her, as it turned out she really was Russian and that was what her accent was. It was nice, sitting at the table in a common room near their rooms, Clint sitting on her lap, coloring away as they talked. It was something he always looked forward to.

Bucky would return to his job down in storage listening as they came up with plans, some really stupid, others a little worrisome, but it all seemed hypothetical, something they said they'd do, but never really work up the motivation.

But somehow the topic of guns were brought up, that was completely unsettling to Bucky who thought there was no reason for there to be weapons to be in the Tower at all.

But apparently Tony had his reasons.

"Guns, you have guns here." Bucky said, frowning, "Why?" He demanded more than asked.

"Because I didn't know how things would end, we may have to defend ourselves some day," Tony replied.

"Against each other?" he asked incredulously.

"No, god no, I don't ever want them being used on humans again, I meant...what if aliens invade? What if the chemical in the snow turns all of the dead into White Walkers?"

"What the hell is a Whit- no what the fuck, Stark, seriously?" Bucky rubbed his forehead, "Please tell me you're not serious."

"I'm not...well not really, we can't really know for sure there isn't extraterrestrial life out there that wants to kill us, but no that isn't what they were for," Tony said, "I didn't know if there were other people out there with suitable ways to battle the cold that would last, and I'm pretty protective of my Tower and of the people in it, and I'm not about to let anyone else take it, if it came to that, but you know the whole rescuing people thing kind of prevents that..." Tony heaved a sigh, "They're basically useless now, the ammo isn't in the same storage area and I'm the only person alive who knows where it is."

Bucky let out a breath, "...alright," he said, "So...they're useless?"

"Yeah, well they'd probably hurt if you hit someone in the face with it, but no bullets," Tony replied.

"Okay," Bucky nodded, he could deal with that, he had dealt with it as a matter of fact. "Well, I guess it's okay, as long as it stays that way."

"I have no plans on changing it, I've been thinking of ways to reuse the parts honestly, I already have actually, just not all of them," Tony shrugged.

"Okay, well apparently one of them knows about the guns, they will probably try something..."

"Yeah, I don't want them using them though, guns are still a valid weapon of terror," Tony frowned recalling Bucky's story and how he was well aware of that. "I'll change up some of the security down there."

"Yeah, well, I'll keep you updated," Bucky said, Tony bobbed his head in acknowledgement, "And why did you give Clint that loud noisy toy thing he gets nothing out of save for driving me insane?"

Tony grinned, "That is why."

"I hate you," Bucky said walking into the elevator, feeling better about the whole thing. He knew it wasn't over, but at least it wasn't going to end badly.

 ~

Clint really liked school, he actually really loved school, he could talk now, not like most people, but he could. It was like his and his brother's talking but it was more. He missed his Barney, he really did, he could spell his name on paper which made him happy, he could also spell Bucky, he'd learned both of those before his own name Clint. That was all he could write without help now, he was learning more though, every day.

They were special to him, Bucky was learning the hand talk with him, they could talk all the time, and Bucky always smiled at him when he did it, Bucky smiled at him a lot. Clint really liked Bucky, he remembered him a little from the train, he was always with 'Tee' he didn't know how to spell his name because he'd never been taught how. But Tee was always nice to him and was a lot of fun, he missed him too.

But Clint kept going on, he had Natasha too, she was so nice, she talked to him too, and she let him sit on her lap and draw any time he liked. It was really nice being up high with the adults.

He had been given a lot of things now, toys, he was told they were called, his bear was still his favorite and had a place of honor on his pillow on the bed. Everything was so different from what he knew, it was all so amazing.

School was still his favorite thing ever, of course, reading and writing were hard, but they were fun, he really liked math and science too, but field trips were the best thing ever.

They were on their way out now, and Clint loved seeing everything in the Tower it was so new and wonderful, it was so much better than the gross and smelly train, he liked this place better he just wished his big brother was here to see it too.

'Clint', his teacher waved at him to get his attention and then signed his name, his name sign was really neat, it was the letter C and then the word for 'bird', because he was 'flighty' according to his teacher, he didn't know what that meant, but he did like birds, 'Are you okay?' she asked and he bobbed his head.

'Where?' he asked, curious as to where they were going, then making a face at the girl who he was supposed to hold hands with making a face at him because he'd let her hand go to sign.

His teacher, her name was B-sing, or Miss Bobbi, she was really nice, she smiled at him and told him to be patient, he crunched his nose up at her and she laughed then kept on walking, leading the train of kids into the big room with the wall with writing on it. It had his brother's name on it, Bucky had shown it to him.

Today he was going to get a tracing of it, he had a crayon and a clean sheet of paper, he was gonna rub the crayon over the dents the letters made and keep it with him all the time.

The train of kids came into the room and the teacher talked to them about it while Miss Bobbi translated for him, the teacher talked about how the wall was for everyone, this was the memorial built for all the people who had passed in the world, a way to remember them. Clint always wanted to remember his big brother so he was glad to have his name there. He was the best big brother ever, and Clint thought everyone should know that.

Once the talking was done the kids were sent off in groups to talk about their project, they had to come up with an idea for memories and what to do with them to keep them. Clint was working on his, pulling out his purple crayon, getting on his tip toes and trying to hold up the page to rub the crayon on the paper over his brother's name, it was a little high for him, unfortunately and the paper kept curling over. Another hand came up and helped hold the paper in place, he looked up and smiled at his teacher, he was nice too, his name was Mr. Coulson. He didn't have a name sign yet, they were figuring one out, but Clint wanted it to be good.

Clint finished his rubbing and beamed up at his teacher and signed 'thank you', the man returned with a 'you're welcome' which just so happened to be the same sign, but it worked. He nodded and then pointed away, indicating he was going to go help someone else, Clint bobbed his head in understanding then crouched down to look at his rubbing of his brother's name. He grinned, very pleased with it. He knew he would keep it forever because it was good. He stood up still looking at his paper, not aware of anything else, he was thinking of maybe asking Bucky if he wanted one too.

Then he was violently shoved and knocked into the wall.

 

No one had really noticed them enter, it wasn't unusual for many people to be here, the memorial forum was a wide open space with windows on three sides, it was a large rectangular room with the wall in the middle parallel to the two longer walls, the whole place took up at least a third of one floor, but no one minded that as it was an important place. The wall was black stone and had names carved into it only about halfway down on one side, room for those lost later. 

But it was usually pretty empty, just the kids in there right then, sometimes a few people leaving flowers at the bottom of the wall, that was it for the most part. 

So why they'd come here of all places made no sense, as it turned out, it was a mistake they'd been looking for one of the elevators that brought them down to one of the other storage areas. Instead they'd walked into the middle of a field trip with a whole bunch of kindergarten and first graders while carrying guns.

It had taken a moment for the adults to notice, and once they were the men panicked.

"Against the wall! Now!" one barked automatically taking command, thinking they might be able to use it to their advantage, waving the gun at them, the adults ushered the kids against the wall, all except one. 

Clint. He couldn't hear the directions from the teachers and hadn't seen the men come in so he was still by the memorial wall faced away.

"Against the wall I said!" the man yelled, and snarled when the child didn't move, he marched over to him.

"No! He can't hear you!" Bobbi said frantically but was hushed by another of the men who waved his gun at her.

"Listen brat!" the man snapped and then kicked him against the memorial wall, Clint hit it with a sharp thunk, hitting his head. There were several cries from the others at the wall, Bobbi furiously telling them to _stop_ he was just a child and he couldn't _hear_ them!

Clint blinked at the man in confused shock before the pain and situation caught up with him and he started crying, holding onto the front of his head where a goose-egg had already formed turning his forehead black and blue, he sobbed, little pain filled whines escaping him, looking up at the man who'd hurt him.

"Oh shut up, you should have listened," the man snapped, "Now get over there," he snarled again when the child didn't move.

"He's deaf!" Bobbi said furiously, "How dare you treat a child like that you awful jerk!" she cried, tears coming out of her own eyes from her fury, seeing children hurt like that, she would not stand for it. She was very close to slugging the guy in the face when he kicked Clint back over to the others, he cried out each time and scrambled over to Bobbi clinging onto her legs, she kneeled down and wrapped him in her arms, holding him close, glaring up at them hatefully before she went to inspect his head, it was bleeding a little too. She wiped it off gently and cradled him close.

"What are you trying to prove?" Mr. Coulson demanded, "Corralling children terrified against a wall in a place that has nothing for you to gain?"

"That is an excellent question," Justin Hammer said walking into the room, "This is not the right room, why are we in this room?"

"Clearly we've put our faith in the wrong lackies," Aldrich Killian said, "Gents, the elevator is actually on the other side of the building."

"We were just thinking that maybe some hostages would help?" the first lackey said weakly.

"Mmmm, I'm not against it, and it's kids we'll get whatever we want," Hammer said, "I'm okay with it."

Killian shrugged, "Fine."

"Not fine." 

All of the gun wielding guys turned around and looked shocked to find every single one of the rescuers in full armor behind them.

It would have been dramatic if Bucky hadn't been so beyond pissed.

And he hadn't even seen Clint yet.

How dare they come in here and do this to children, this was supposed to be over, they were not meant to treat other people like this.

"All of you will set down the guns and get on your knees so we can restrain you, then you're going to come quietly," he said evenly, though it was clear he would take no shit, from anyone.

"We have guns pointed at children while you were armor and you don't think we won't shoot, you really want to test us?" Hammer asked.

Bucky gave him a flat look then stepped out of his armor, "Shoot me then."

"What?" Hammer frowned, obviously not expecting that.

"I said: _shoot me_ , if you're such a coward to hide behind terrified children, then shoot me," he even went so far as to step over to a gun and press it to himself, pointblank. Just like he had on the train.

"You're suicidal," Killian said, "We could just-"

"Shoot."

There was silence for long enough that they could hear Clint's quite whimpers, Bucky looked over to see Clint, he was gazing up at him with big blue eyes, tear stained cheeks and a big bruise on his forehead.

He was pretty freaking close to seeing red right then and there, "Who is responsible for that?" he asked, voice quiet and icy. " _Who?_ " he demanded louder when there was no answer.

He snarled when he didn't get one again, "ON YOUR KNEES," he demanded, absolutely furious, several of the men dropped their guns and dropped to their knees, "You have no bullets, you are outnumbered and out gunned, and I am this close to dropping each and everyone of you into the Atlantic Ocean. And you have held children hostage to get something so fucking trivial as alcohol."

"That is not what this is about!" Hammer insisted righteously, "This was about our rights being snubbed! And having some man who thinks he knows all lording over us that he saved us!"

Bucky turned to give him a flat look, "You're an idiot," he said even more flatly, "Your rights? Your right to live in a place that he decided to open up to as many people as possible to save them and keep it functional so everyone stays as happy as possible, you want to argue that with a man who probably doesn't sleep more than fifteen minutes in three days because he tries so hard to keep it that way."

"Now you just wait a minute-" Killian started and Bucky cut him off.

"No, I have been listening to every damn word you idiots were spouting these past months, and you sound like entitled assholes, you sound like children who didn't get the toy they wanted, you don't know anything about being snubbed, about having your rights violated, about some man lording his savior status over your heads!" Bucky snapped, marching right into the man's face, "You will shut up and get on your knees, or I will make you, is that understood?" 

Killian didn't say anything, he got on his knees, glaring at him the whole while. The rest of the men and Hammer followed, Bucky only had to wait a moment before the other rescuers and security people were taking care of them, and then he was going over to Clint, checking his face and making sure he was okay. Clint waited until he was done at least before he threw himself into Bucky's arms to sob into his chest, armor and all.

~

The whole ordeal was far from over, as the men would be detained and then put to a trial of their peers, (no living in the Tower did not exempt you from Jury duty), and come up with the punishments. It was likely grunt work, as it was, nothing too terrible had happened except for Clint getting hurt, and Bucky made sure the man who had hurt him was punished justly.

After all of the drama, things settled down again, though Bucky knew things wouldn't be perfect here, it was the best home he'd ever had and he was determined to keep it good. Natasha seemed to want to as well. She decided to stick around more, and Bucky really had no problem with that. Things might maybe be able to become more between them, but he was still focused on Clint, maybe later when things were more solid for them he'd consider it, if she was open to it.

Things went back to how they were, those who had tried to stage a rebellion were serving time in various jobs, the ones no one really wanted to do. They would only have to do it for so long, if they tried again they would be more severely punished. But so far things were okay.

Clint was okay, he stuck to Bucky like glue for a few days and didn't talk much but eventually he healed both physically and emotionally, the only reminder: a small scar above his eyebrow.

Tony, however, felt the need to make it up to him, a few weeks later, Clint had some hearing aids.

They were purple and fit his ears perfectly. Clint thought they were uncomfortable at first.

But his mind was changed.

"Alright, let's get the party started," Tony said, smiling at Clint who was sitting on a workbench of his, Bucky leaning against it next to him.

"If it doesn't work..?"

"Hush, Mr. Optimism, it'll work," he said and then smiled at Clint 'Ready?' he signed and Clint bobbed his head, a little nervous but curious as to what this was about.

"Aaand presto," Tony muttered pressing the buttons he needed to and switching the aids on, he nodded at Bucky.

And suddenly Bucky was nervous, if these aids worked, the first sound Clint would hear would be Bucky's voice, he took a breath and then smiled, "Hey squirt."

Clint blinked at him looking very confused, and Bucky wondered if he'd heard him at all, Tony waved at him to keep talking, "Um...hey, kiddo, I...I wish you could...well I wish this wasn't me..but your brother talking to you now but-" and then he saw it, Clint's eyes going impossibly wide, he flailed a bit, then flapped his hands at Bucky and Bucky couldn't help but laugh.

Clint let out a happy squeal at the laugh, "Kie!" he said, which Bucky knew was as close as he'd ever gotten to saying his name.

"Yeah squirt, that's me you hear," he said even though he knew he didn't understand him yet, but he hugged Clint back when he threw his arms around his neck and was babbling like crazy, so happy at this new thing.

It gave Bucky a lot of hope, hope for an actual future, one that was bright and maybe just a little bit better than the past, either way, the hope that he had, from the look of sheer joy on this little boy's face was something he didn't know he'd ever have again.

He liked having it back, however, now he knew Clint would be able to talk he'd never shut up, but he figured, that was something he would be okay with, as long as he never stopped smiling.


End file.
